Swallowed by the Whale

Here I sit in the belly of the whale, my little boat and I swallowed whole. It all happened so fast. One minute I was drifting along, captain of my own small vessel, and the next thing I know, I am sucked down the throat of this giant sea mammal. I am amazed to find myself still in one piece and not already part of the beast's digestive system. My first thought is to escape, to try to paddle or swim out, but, in time, I think better of that plan and decide that my focus needs to be on survival. As long as I can keep myself in one piece, there is always the chance that eventually I will be spewed to freedom when the monster decides I am indigestible.

I wonder if that is what Jonah or Gepetto felt when they first became aware of their predicament after their famous encounters with a whale. I know it is what I experienced when my small friendly company was taken over by an impersonal corporate giant. We were supposedly intact even though we had become a part of a bigger entity. However, things were different, and, as I was soon to discover, there were changes coming beyond anything I could have expected. Just like those other famous captives my first thought was, "Let me out. I don't belong here." However, like them, I too came to realize that my situation could be handled better by staying calm and focusing on survival. This was my only job, and, up to now, it was one at which I excelled. If, as promised, my responsibilities were to remain essentially unchanged, then all I needed to do was show my new employer just how well I could perform my assignments and perhaps everything would return to normal. Well, I was wrong and my ordeal was only beginning.

When I first conceived the idea for this book, I assumed that it would describe how one survives a corporate takeover, but as the outline evolved, I realized that was just one aspect of many changes that we, as employees, must deal with in the course of our careers. Decidedly, I felt a broader context was more appropriate.

Part I of this book is the story of my struggle to adapt to a corporate culture after being a key integral employee in a much smaller company. I will not use the real name of the company or any of its employees. For the purpose of this book, I will refer to the name of the new company as “SuperCorp” and my former much smaller business that that they took over as “LittleCorp”. The lessons I learned could also apply to individuals that have always been part of a huge organization.

Part Two of the book lists nine types of changes that pertain to any work environment. Each category is described and annotated with suggestions on how to manage that change.